Hello Sunshine

     What a beautiful day filled with sunshine and adventures. Last night I was up quite late meaning I slept in until 9:30 this morning. Lately, I've made either scrambled or fried eggs for breakfast, but as I was about to scramble my eggs this morning I realized I had the ingredients for an omelet. It was a nice change to the morning menu and I very much enjoyed it. Neither Abby nor I had received our student I.D. cards nor had we made a trip to Salthill. So we decided to take the walk into town together. With a clear sky and no time limit Abby and I decided to play the part of the true American tourist: taking pictures. Such cloudy rainy days have prevented any desire to get out and take pictures of the beautiful city we live in. Often times I find myself complaining about the rain, but it's usually when I see the beautiful scenery of the castle ruins and Coiribe River that I realize how spoiled I am and have no reason to complain. Each morning on my walk to and from school I walk past this castle, how cool is that?!

     At the university we picked up our cards...mine is a tad distorted, looks like I was subjected to some sort of stretching torture device. Anyway we weren't completely sure how to get to Salthill, but we new we would go past Shop street so I took Abby to the Griffin's Bakery. Starting in 1876 Griffin's Bakery has been a staple in Galway as a gem of a bakery. One of the bakery mottos is "'Is fearr leath builin na bheith gan aran" meaning, half a loaf is better than being without bread. For those of you who don't know, I happen to have a slight love affair with bread. I am considering adopting this as my new motto. Both Abby and I ordered apple danishes and a warm drink. The Irish certainly know how to make delicious chocolate. Hershey's may seem good in the states, but it's nothing compared to Cadbury chocolate over here. Their expertise in chocolate also extends to hot drinks like hot chocolate. Absolutely rich and delicious! My apple danish and baby hot chocolate hit the spot. Mom and Dad, I am excited to take you to Griffins!

        After finishing our delightful treats at Griffins we weren't exactly sure how to make our way to Salthill, so we asked for directions. Fortunately, Abby happened to pick the nicest lady in Galway. She had been walking past looking at a sign on the wall when I walked over to ask her directions. Startled by my presence she apologized for not seeing me and proceeded to walk us down to the corner holding my arm the entire way explaining all about Salthill. She spoke about the temperature, atmosphere, beauty of the scenery and explained if we ran into Boston we've gone too far west. For a few minutes I thought she was going to join us on our journey. I wouldn't have minded, she was quite fun to be around. Now that we had directions we began our 45 minute walk, however with only about a block in, we decided we'd try another day. It was already mid afternoon and the temperature had begun to drop. Knowing the temperature would be even lower and the wind much higher out at Salthill we may not enjoy the scenic walk quite as much as another warmer day. Instead we decided to stay in Eyre Square and explore the Galway City Centre. We found many cute little boutiques and great cafes. One of my favorite discoveries was Pippablue. A small craft shop filled with polka dotted ribbons, brightly printed fabrics, multi-colored buttons and best of all beautiful skeins of yarn! Had I not been a poor college students I'm quite positive I would have purchased the entire store.

      Galway is also home to several beautiful cathedrals, of course I do not remember the name of this particular one, however I do know it's interior is lovely.

     While out exploring Abby and I received a text from our roommate, Aurelie, saying she was preparing lasagna and crepes and we were welcome to join her. A free french meal? Why not! Aurelie invited her friend Elise who is also french to join us for dinner. A million times I've heard bon appetit! but when you have a french meal prepared for you and a french roommate who has a grand accent to truly say bon appetit, it's just so much better! After dinner Aurelie made crepes topped with our choice of jam, nutella or peanut butter. Wow...talk about appetizing. Although I walk everywhere in Galway I feel as though I am going to need to keep walking A LOT if I make a habit out of eating nutella & peanut butter crepes.  Cheers to the evening, we all enjoyed getting to know one another over a wonderful meal. During the meal we discussed traveling this semester. Each of us would like to see the Irish countryside, but agreed it's difficult without a car. Taking a bus to a major city is not hard, but we all expressed seeing the small towns and villages is what we truly desire and a bus would not allow us to do this. However, renting a car and splitting the cost between the 4 of us would work just grand. The idea of this is very exciting to me and I think we'd have a great time together.
     I think I will most certainly enjoy not having classes on Friday. Today was a lot of fun, exploring the city, marveling at the sunshine and all that was illuminated by it as well as making a new friend and traveling companion. I'd call it a success :  )

With Love from Galway